Apparatus for charging refrigerator-cars with ice.



H. n. PRATT APPARATUS FOR CHARGING REFRIGERATOR CARS WITH ICE.

APPt-ICATION man APR. 12. 1915. vPmented NOV 20 1917' 5 sHEETS-SHEET 1 H. D. PRATT. APPARATUS FOR CHARGING REFRIGERATOR CARS WITH ICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, I915. II ,Q4?,5?5. Patented Nov. 20, 191?.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2- H. D. PRATT. APPARATUS FOR CHARGING REFRIGERATOR CARS WITH ICE. L@@7 5?5R APPLICATION FILED APR-$2,19l5.

' Patented Nov. 20, 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

I H. n. PRAIL APPARATUS FOR CHARGING REFRIGERATOR CARS WITH ICE.

W m APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, I915. 1,24 1,5 4 5 Patented Nov. 20., 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

H, D. PRATT.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGJNG REFRIGERATOR CARS WITH 1813.

APPLICATION HLED APR-12.1915. :IPQP'h-r Patented Novv 20, 191?.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

HOWELL D. PRATT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR. TO LINK-BELT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING REFRIGERATOR-OAKS WITH ICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. ac, amt.

Application filed April 12, 1915. Serial No. 20,828.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hownm. D. PRATT,

a citizen of the United States, residing inmechanism so that it can be mounted on a trackadjacent to the storage tracks for the refrigerator cars in order that the apparatus can be shifted to charge one car after another without the necessity of shifting the refrigerator cars.

A still further object of the invention is to arrange the tracks for the ice car and the salt car so that they can be connected to the apparatus in order to move therewith.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus with means for weighing the ice and with means for measuring the salt that is mixed with the ice.

My improved apparatus is preferably located in the railroad yard where the refrigerator cars are arranged on storage tracks and after they are charged with ice they can immediately proceed to their destination. There is a special track on which the apparatus is mounted and this apparatus, in the present instance, has its own power by which it can be ropelled over the track and parallel with t e tracks for the refrigerator cars and at the same time tracks are provided for the ice car and for the salt car, the ice being transferred in cars from the ice storage house or ice field.

to the apparatus. The ice is delivered to the apparatus in blocks and a crusher on the apparatus breaks the ice into pieces of the size required. The'i'ce is then wei hed and delivered automatically into the re rigerator cars and as it passes from the weighing mechanism to the cars a certain amount of salt is added to it and this amount of salt is regulated by the speed of the apparatus or by separate measuring mechanism.

In. the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic end view showing the tracks in section and illustrating my improved apparatus for charging refrigerator cars with ice;

Fig. 2 is a side View;

Fig. 3 is a plan view;

Fig. l is a view illustrating a modification of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the modification illustrated in Fig. 4..

In the drawings, the apparatus is shown diagrammatically as it is unnecessary to illustrate the parts in detail since the details can be modified without departing from the essential features of the invention.

1, 1 are the tracks on which the refrigerator cars 2 are loaded. I have shown three tracks in the drawings, but there may be as many tracks as desired. 3, 3 are the rails forming the track on which the charging apparatus 4 is located. 5 is the track on which are located the ice cars 6. 7 is the rail which forms a track with one of the rails 3 for the salt car 8, which is located at one end of the apparatus.

On the frame-9 of the apparatus is an ice crusher 10 driven from the power mechanism on the apparatus in any suitable manner. 11', 11 are two weighing means having bins into which the ice is delivered from the crusher through the elevator 13. The ice as it drops from the crusher 10 flows by gravity down an inclined way It into the boot 13* of the elevator and it is lifted by' this elevator and is discharged through the'chutes 15 into the bin of either of the weighing means 11; a valve 16 is located at the junction of the chutes so as to direct the broken ice into either one .ofthe chutes.

17 is a platform pivoted at 18, and 19 is a rope, or chain, attached to the platform near its outer end and passing over a sheave 20 to a winding apparatus. This platform is on the ice car side of the apparatus and the car is so located that the doorway of the car is directly in line with the platform 17 so that the men in the car can discharge the blocks of ice directly onto the platform. The platform can be adjusted to the position illustrated in dotted lines, Fig. 1, so that it will be near the top of the car, or it can be adjusted to the position illustrated by full lines, Fig. 1, near the bottom of the car, or at any point between the two, and

when a loaded car is to be discharged the dotted lines and gradually lowered as the contents of the car are discharged. When the platform is in the elevated position the blocks of ice will slide down on the platform into the crusher by gravity, but when the platform is below the horizontal line then .it will have to be raisedaseach block is placed on the platform so as todischargo the block by gravity into the crusher. This platform, as stated before, can be mechanically operated, or may be raised and lowof the crushed ice elevator 26. The screw conveyer is driven at such a speed that it acts as a measuring apparatus for the salt. The elevator. 26 may be of the endless chain bucket type and the ice is discharged from the buckets of the elevator into a chute 27 and from this chute itis delivered into the hopper of a screw conveyer 28. This screw conveyer is pivoted, 'in the present instance, at 29 to the structure of the apparatus and is arranged to swing on this pivot so as to bring the chute 30 into line with the trap door of any one of the refrigerator cars.

In the drawings, I have shown the chute .30 discharging into one of the ice compartments of the outer car of the series.

It will be seen by my invention that I am enabled to receive blocks of ice from a car, crush it to the desired extent and mix it with a certain quantity of salt from another car. The mixture is then elevated and discharged into the icecompartment'of any car which is on a track ad acent to the apparatus.

The apparatus is propelled along the track by a motor, making it unnecessary to move the refrigerator cars while icing and salting them. The ice and salt cars are coupled to the apparatus'and are moved along by it, thus keeping them in proper position in respect to said apparatus.

In the modificatlon shown in Figs. 4 and 5, I have illustrated an apparatus in which there is a platform 32 located between the apparatus 4 and the track 5, of the ice car 6 and on this platform is a horizontal conveyer 33. The blocks of ice are discharged onto this conveyer from the car and are carried to a point opposite a conveyer 34 and are transferred to this conveyer which lifts them so that they-will be discharged bygravity into the ice breaker 10, the lee discharging from this breaker into the elevator 13 which, in turn, discharges into the bins of the weighing apparatus 11, which, in

turn, discharges into an endless screw conthe salt measuring device 39 and from the salt measuring device through a screw conveyer 40 into the boot of the car icing elevator 26 instead of the horizontal conveyer.

The'car icing elevator discharges, in the present instance, into an inclined chute 41, which. is supported on an overhanging bridge 42 and discharges through chutes 30 into the ice compartment of the refrigerator car 2. 43 and 44 are branch pipes leading to the cars on the other tracks and valves 45 and 46'can be adjusted so as to direct the crushed ice into either of the chutes. These valves are operated from a central point,

preferably from the operators stand on the bridge 42.

Thus it will be seen that the blocks of ice can be discharged directly from the ice car into the apparatus, or' can be discharged onto a horizontal conveyer which, in turn, will carry the blocks of ice to the apparatus. In the latter case, two or more ice cars can be located at the side of the platform and ice can be delivered from two or more cars at the same time, but, if the ice is properly handled, it can be delivered very quickly to the crusher of the apparatus shownin Fig. 1. In some instances, where it is not feasible to provide a horizontal conveyer for the crushed ice, the chutes can be used, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

I claim:

1. The combination of aseriesof tracks for refrigerator cars arranged side by side; a track running parallel with the refrigerator car tracks; an apparatus mounted on the tracks; means for propelling said apparatus; a crusher and scales for the ice located on the. apparatus; an.elevator for receiving the broken ice and delivering it to any one of the cars on the refrigerator car tracks; a track for an ice car located at one side of the apparatus track; means, on the apparatus, for receiving ice from the said ice car and delivering it to the crusher on the apparatus; a track for a salt car; and conveying mechanism, on the apparatus, ar-

ranged to receive salt from the salt car and to deliver it to a conveyer so as to mix it with the broken ice prior to the ice being discharged into therefrigerator cars.

2. The combination, in an ap aratus for loading cars with crushed ice, 0 means for propel ing the apparatus; a track on which the apparatus is mounted; a track for an ice car and a track for a salt car; means for. conveying the ice and salt from their respective cars; and means, on the apparatus, for mixing the salt with the ice in proper proportion, and for discharging the mixture in a refrigerator car.

3. The combination in an apparatus for charging refrigerator cars with ice, of a measuring and transfer apparatus consisting'of a frame having wheels adapted to a track and having weighing mechanism thereon. for the ice; measuring mechanism for the salt; an ice elevator arranged to receive ice from a conveyer; and a combined ice and salt elevator arranged to receive the ice and salt-from the weighing and measun ing apparatus and to deliver them to a car at one side of the apparatus.

4. The combination of a measuring and transfer apparatus consisting of a frame on wheels adapted to a track; a salt measuring device arranged to measurethe salt as it is traveling through theapparatus; an ice conveyer; a breaker for breaking the ice, said breaker being arranged to receive the ice from the conveyer; an elevator for elevating the ice into a crushed ice weighing apparatus; means for removing the ice as it is discharged from the weighing apparatus; and an elevator arranged to receive boththe ice and the salt and to deliver them into a refrigerator car at the side of the apparatus.

5. The combination in apparatus for charging refrigerator cars with ice, of a frame; a crusher on the frame; an ice elevator for receiving the ice from the crusher;

a weighing apparatus for weighing the crushed ice; an elevator for carrying the weighed and crushed ice to a hopper above a car to be charged; and a horizontal conveycr onto which the crushed ice is discharged and from which it is directed to the refrigerator car.

6. The combination in apparatus for charging refrigerator cars with ice, of a frame; a crusher on the frame; an ice elevator for receiving the ice from the crusher;

a weighing apparatus for weighing the crushed ice; an elevator for carrying the weighed and crushed ice to a hopper above a car to be charged; a horizontal screw conveyer into which the crushed ice is discharged and from which it is directed to the refrigerator car; and means at one side of the apparatus for receiving ice from an ice car and discharging it into the crusher.

7. In mechanism for charging refrigerator cars with ice, the combination with a loading apparatus traveling on a track parallel with the track or tracks upon which rest the caror cars to be .loaded and comprising means for crushing, Weighing and lid elevating the crushed ice; of an ice car traveling on a track parallel with that upon which the loading apparatus travels and movable with said loading apparatus; means on the loading apparatus for receiving a block of ice and directing it to the crusher;

and means for directing the crushed ice to HOWELL. D. PRATT.

Witnesses:

WM. BROWN, Jl'n, WM. A. BARR. 

